The God Culture: The Dead Sea Scrolls Condemn Timothy Jay Schwab and The God Culture

If there is a foundation for Timothy Jay Schwab and The God Culture's aberrant theology, which includes fantastical prophecies about the Philippines, it is the Dead Sea Scrolls. Tim's thesis is that the community at Qumran was not the Essenes but exiled priests who fled Jerusalem once the temple became corrupted. It is this community whom God entrusted with preserving not only the true scriptures, which Tim says includes Jubilees and Enoch, but also the true interpretation of them. The Dead Sea Scrolls are actually the library of John the Baptist which means in 1947 his voice was crying out once again and we must listen. 

Because Tim has made hundreds of hours of videos discussing this subject there is no way I will be able to cover every claim he has made. I shall instead focus on a few of his major claims and demonstrate how his conclusions are completely wrong. In this article I want to examine three of Tim's claims in regard to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those three are the identity of the Qumran Community, the Sabbath, and the Name of God.

1. The Identity of the Qumran Community

Who lived in Qumran? Many would say the Essenes. Some would say nobody knows. Tim says it was John the Baptist.

Bible of John the Baptist Found! The Dead Sea Scrolls. Proof It Was John Not Essenes In Qumran

There is a lot happening in this video. To sum up Tim's view, which is also laid out in his introduction to The Book of Jubilees and 2nd Enoch, the Qumran community was located in Bethabara which is where John the Baptist operated. The Dead Sea Scrolls are part of a library that he and his followers maintained. In fact, according to Timothy Jay Schwab, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain two prophecies concerning John the Baptist's eventual joining of the Community at Qumran.

Bible of John the Baptist Found! The Dead Sea Scrolls. Proof It Was John Not Essenes In Qumran

1. The Community Rule, P. 109. Vermes.  

2. Calendars, Liturgies and Prayers, P. 389-390. Vermes. There is nothing to debate here. Fraud obliterated! Yah Bless.

Here these alleged prophecies are explained on page 36 of his new annotated version of 1st and 2nd Esdras.

2nd Esdras: The Hidden Book of Prophecy: With 1st Esdras, p.36

Let's take a look at the Community Rule's alleged prophecy of John the Baptist's future participation in the Community at Qumran.

VIII In the Council of the Community there shall be twelve men and three Priests, perfectly versed in all that is revealed of the Law, whose works shall be truth, righteousness, justice, loving-kindness and humility. They shall preserve the faith in the Land with steadfastness and meekness and shall atone for sin by the practice of justice and by suffering the sorrows of affliction. They shall walk with all men according to the standard of truth and the rule of the time. 

When these are in Israel, the Council of the Community shall be established in truth. It shall be an Everlasting Plantation, a House of Holiness for Israel, an Assembly of Supreme Holiness for Aaron. They shall be witnesses to the truth at the Judgement, and shall be the elect of Goodwill who shall atone for the Land and pay to the wicked their reward. It shall be that tried wall, that precious corner-stone, whose foundations shall neither rock nor sway in their place (Isa. xxviii, 16). It shall be a Most Holy Dwelling for Aaron, with everlasting knowledge of the Covenant of justice, and shall offer up sweet fragrance. It shall be a House of Perfection and Truth in Israel that they may establish a Covenant according to the everlasting precepts. And they shall be an agreeable offering, atoning for the Land and determining the judgement of wickedness, and there shall be no more iniquity. When they have been confirmed for two years in perfection of way in the Foundation of the Community, they shall be set apart as holy within the Council of the men of the Community. And the Interpreter shall not conceal from them, out of fear of the spirit of apostasy, any of those things hidden from Israel which have been discovered by him. 

And when these become members of the Community in Israel according to all these rules, they shall separate from the habitation of unjust men and shall go into the wilderness to prepare there the way of Him; as it is written, Prepare in the wilderness the way of ... , make straight in the desert a path for our God (Isa. xl, 3). This (path) is the study of the Law which He commanded by the hand of Moses, that they may do according to all that has been revealed from age to age, and as the Prophets have revealed by His Holy Spirit.

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Geza Vermes, pg. 109

How is that a prophecy of John the Baptist? It's not! The prophecy here comes from Isaiah 40:3: 

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

That is indeed a prophecy of John the Baptist. Its fulfillment is to be found in the Gospels.

John 1:19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 

20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 

21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 

22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 

23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

John the Baptist is the voice crying in the wilderness to make straight the way of the Lord which is Jesus Christ. The Community Rule says the voice crying out is "twelve men and three Priests, perfectly versed in all that is revealed of the Law" and that the path is "the study of the Law which He commanded by the hand of Moses." One cannot possibly read this and think they are talking about John the Baptist. It's pretty clear that the Qumran Community apply this prophecy to 15 people who wander about teaching the law of Moses. This interpretation of Isaiah's prophecy is right in line with the Community's strict observance of the law.

As for the second alleged prophecy, it is not a prophecy either. 

The Master shall bless the Prince of the Congregation ... and shall renew for him the Covenant of the Community that he may establish the kingdom of His people for ever,

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Giza Vermes, pg. 389

What Tim has done is take a passage from the Blessings in the Dead Sea Scrolls out of context. In context the Master is not John the Baptist but the leader of the Qumran Community. He blesses first the faithful, secondly the high priest, thirdly the Sons of Zadok, and last of all the Prince of the Congregation who is the Messiah. If the Master and Prince were John and Jesus respectively then there is no way that John would bless

the Sons of Zadok the Priests, whom God has chosen to confirm His Covenant... 

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Giza Vermes, pg. 388

John the Baptist would never utter this blessing because the Priest whom God has chosen to confirm His Covenant is Jesus Christ and He is a Priest after the order of Melchizedek forever according to both Psalm 110 and Hebrews 5. Likewise why would John bless the High Priest when Jesus Christ is our High Priest? He would not and this blessing is no prophecy of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

So, who exactly composed the Community at Qumran? Was it really exiled temple priests? The Damascus Document tells us.

But with the remnant which held fast to the commandments of God He made His Covenant with Israel for ever, revealing to them the hidden things in which all Israel had gone astray. He unfolded before them His holy Sabbaths and his glorious feasts, the testimonies of His righteousness and the ways of His truth, and the desires of His will which a man must do in order to live. And they dug a well rich in water; and he who despises it shall not live. Yet they wallowed in the sin of man and in ways of uncleanness, and they said, ‘This is our (way).’ ButGod, in His wonderful mysteries, forgave them their sin and pardoned their wickedness; and He built them a sure house in Israel whose like has never existed from former times till now. Those who hold fast to it are destined to live for ever and all the glory of Adam shall be theirs. As God ordained for them by the hand of the Prophet Ezekiel, saying, The Priests, the Levites, and the sons of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel strayed from me, they shall offer me fat and blood (Ezek. xliv, 15). 

The Priests are the converts of Israel who departed from the land of Judah, and (the Levites are) those who joined them. The sons of Zadok are the elect of Israel, the men called by name who shall stand at the end of days. Behold the exact list of their names according to their generations, and the time when they lived, and the number of their trials, and the years of their sojourn, and the exact list of their deeds...(They were the first men) of holiness whom God forgave, and who justified the righteous and condemned the wicked. And until the age is completed, according to the number of those years, all who enter after them shall do according to that interpretation of the Law in which the first (men) were instructed. According to the Covenant which God made with the forefathers, forgiving their sins, so shall He forgive their sins also. But when the age is completed, according to the number of those years, there shall be no more joining the house of Judah, but each man shall stand on his watch-tower: The wall is built, the boundary far removed(Mic. vii, II).

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Giza Vermes, pg 131-132

According to their very own writings the Priests, Levites, and Sons of Zadok are symbolic names indicating various categories of people who joined the Community at Qumran. There are other passages that seem to contradict this but I will not delve into that discussion because the answer is no one knows for sure who lived there. In ascertaining the identity of this group one must also take into account that some members lived in "the world" apart from Qumran with families and businesses. 

In the ‘towns’ or ‘camps’, as the Damascus Document terms them (CD XII, 19, 23), adherents of the sect  lived an urban or village life side by side with, yet apart from, their fellow Jewish and Gentile neighbours. They had wives and reared children, but clearly their sexual morality followed particularly strict rules.

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Giza Vermes, pg 34

Suffice it to say that in the Dead Sea Scrolls there is no prophecy of John the Baptist and it is highly unlikely that either he or Jesus had any doings with that community. A perusal of the documents shows that they taught a rigorous form of law keeping which Jesus never endorsed. They were also an exclusive group which took about 2 years to fully join. Messing up just once could mean anything from permanent exclusion to prison to probation for months or years.

Every man who preaches apostasy under the dominion of the spiritsof Belial shall be judged according to the law relating to thosepossessed by a ghost or familiar spirit (Lev. xx, 27). But no man who strays so as to profane the Sabbath and the feasts shall be put to death; it shall fall to men to keep him in custody. And if he is healed of his error, they shall keep him in custody for seven years and he shall afterwards approach the Assembly.

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls Geza Vermes, pg. 141

According to the Dead Sea Scrolls one could not even pull an animal out of a pit if it fell in one on the Sabbath day. Nor could one save a man who was drowning by using a rope! 

No man shall chide his manservant or maidservant or labourer on the Sabbath. No man shall assist a beast to give birth on the Sabbath day. And if it should fall into a cistern or pit, he shall not lift it out on the Sabbath. 

No man shall profane the Sabbath for the sake of riches or gain on the Sabbath day. But should any man fall into water or (fire), let him not be pulled out with the aid of a ladder or rope or (some such) utensil.

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls Geza Vermes, pg. 142

Compare those precepts with what Jesus says in Luke 14:5:

And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

In contrast, Jesus disdained such exclusivity by openly preaching to and welcoming everyone. Jesus also never mentions a group at Qumran nor does he condemn the current High Priest for being a usurper. Whoever comprised the Qumran Community the fact is they were schismatics who cut themselves off from the God-ordained worship at the temple in Jerusalem. It is always the nature of such groups to proclaim that they alone have the truth. In this respect Timothy Jay Schwab and The God Culture are imitators of the Qumran Community as they have left the Church, which is the Body of Christ, proclaiming it to be the abode of Satan and that they alone have the truth. Remember, no matter how wicked Israel and Judah were God never forsook them but always dealt with them as His people until the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. God does not take schism lightly. There was one Israel and there is ONE Body of Christ.

2. The Sabbath

The issue of the Sabbath involves a lot of material which I cannot possibly cover here. Instead I want to focus on Tim's assertion that the Sabbath begins at sunrise on the 7th day, Saturday. After a tortuous process whereby Tim attempts to prove his thesis using the law of Moses and the timeline of the resurrection of Jesus Christ he ends by telling his audience that the Dead Sea Scrolls agree with him yet he declines to actually cite them.

https://youtu.be/0o7IILG0qbA?t=810

8:20 Now, that's Jubilees, the book written by Moses, as the authority on the calendar specifically. Genesis was not. This is actually the final authority on this topic. Now, some have said, “But the Dead Sea Scrolls say,” we're not gonna cover the Dead Sea Scrolls because we don't have to. This is a Dead Sea scroll, in fact one of the most found books in all of the Dead Sea Scrolls called by the Dead Sea scroll community Torah. So, you can't trump that assuming they are interpreting a Dead Sea scroll documents properly and that is the key here.

The gist of this is that Jubilees and Scripture teach that the Sabbath begins at sunrise therefore the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Community at Qumran also believed this because Jubilees and the Scriptures were found amongst the scrolls. The Bible and Jubilees are literally Dead Sea Scrolls! That is a lie.

The Damascus Document is very clear that the Sabbath begins at sundown on the sixth day and that this is ACCORDING TO THE LAW.

Concerning the Sabbath to observe it according to its law 

No man shall work on the sixth day from the moment when the sun’s orb is distant by its own fulness from the gate (wherein it sinks); for this is what He said, Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy (Deut. v,12). No man shall speak any vain or idle word on the Sabbath day. He shall make no loan to his companion. He shall make no decision in matters of money and gain. He shall say nothing about work or labour to be done on the morrow.

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Giza Vermes, pg 141

What more can one say? It is very obvious that Tim is wrong about the Dead Sea Scrolls supporting his thesis that the Sabbath begins at sunrise on the 7th day as is clear from this passage which says it begins at sundown on the 6th day and that this is according to the law. This brings up a lot of questions about the Qumran Community's calendar and the extent of the authority they give to Jubilees as well as how they interpret it. Jubilees teaches an impossible 364 day solar calendar.  The calendar to be found in the Old Testament is lunisolar and not solar. That is not an insignificant contradiction and it is one of the many proofs that Jubilees is not scripture.

Tim says one cannot trump the authority of the Qumran Community in regards as to when the Sabbath begins. Will he now submit his interpretation of Jubilees to their authority and retract his erroneous teaching that the Sabbath begins at sunrise on the 7th day?

3. The Name of God

The issue of the Name of God is very important amongst certain modern day Protestant schismatics and heretics, especially those associated with the Hebrew Roots movement. Timothy Jay Schwab, a modern day Protestant schismatic and heretic who admits he has been associated with the Hebrew Roots movement (he really loves the Cepher Bible), is pretty, pretty, pretty sure that he knows exactly how to correctly pronounce God's name.

The Name of God - Part 1: How To Pronounce YHWH May Surprise You

Now, I am not going to quote from this video or anywhere else to contradict Tim about the pronunciation of the Name of God. Instead I will cite the Dead Sea Scrolls. The fact is that the Community at Qumran would have excommunicated Tim for a video like this, and indeed his constant repetition of the divine name (or at least what he thinks is the divine name), which is akin to condemning him to death.

If any man has uttered the [Most] Venerable Name even though frivolously, or as a result of shock or for any other reason whatever, while reading the Book or blessing, he shall be dismissed and shall return to the Council of the Community no more.

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Giza Vermes, pg 107

That is practically a death sentence because to not be in the Community is to be outside of the company of the elect. According to the Dead Sea Scrolls Timothy Jay Schwab is condemned to death for pronouncing the Name of God. How much more so for teaching others to do the same? If you are really interested in how the Qumran Community used the divine name I recommend this paper from Dead Sea Scrolls expert Lawerence Schiffman. It's actually a chapter from a book he wrote about the scrolls.

This tendency to avoid pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton is noticeable in Qumran biblical manuscripts and in the Masoretic text. In both corpora when the Tetragrammaton occurs, ‘adnoaii’  often appears before it. It was probably added at some point by a scribe to instruct the reader to substitute the surrogate name for the Tetragrammaton. 

The study of these two texts has shown that the sect, like the Essenes, the New Testament, Philo, and the tannaim, was very hesitant about oaths. The Qumranites prohibited all oaths by the Tetragrammaton as well as those by other divine names or the Torah. Other uses of the Tetragrammaton for curses, magic, public reading of the Scriptures, and recitation of benedictions were likewise prohibited.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvzpv5js.12?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

The fact is Timothy Jay Schwab would not be welcome in the Qumran Community. For one thing he teaches doctrines at odds with what they taught and for another he is married to a second wife while his first wife is still alive.

The ‘builders of the wall’ (Ezek. xiii, 10) who have followed after‘Precept’ - ‘Precept’ was a spouter of whom it is written, They shall surely spout (Mic. ii, 6) - shall be caught in fornication twice by taking a second wife while the first is alive, whereas the principle of creation is, Male and female created He them (Gen. i, 27)’

Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Giza Vermes, pg 132

No matter how you slice it the marriage of Timothy Jay Schwab to the twice divorced Anna Zamoranos is condemned. It is condemned by Jesus Christ as adultery (Matt. 5:32) and it is condemned by the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls as fornication.

This is the end of the article. I admit that not everything is covered here but this article is large enough already. To contradict Timothy Jay Schwab and The God Culture completely on the three issues enumerated above would take a book and I don't have that luxury. What I hope to convey here is that Timothy Jay Schwab is either ill-informed and does not know what the Dead Sea Scrolls teach or he is covering up the parts that contradict him. 

The God Culture: The First Book of Enoch Review, Part 2: The Philippines' Role in 1 Enoch

Having analyzed the introduction to Timothy Jay Schwab's annotated edition of the First Book of Enoch it is now time to take a look at the text itself along with all the apparatus given to help interpret it. This book is full of charts and maps and colorful pictures of all kinds as well as notes and commentary. 

Because there is so much material in this book I have decided to forgo pouring over the notes and the  doctrines Timothy Jay Schwab teaches. It is all the same old heresy which I have rebutted multiple times. It is no fun constantly going over the same old things. Therefore I have decided to focus this review on the role the Philippines plays in Enoch.

First of all it is important to understand that both Enoch and Jubilees map out the exact location of the Garden of Eden. It is in the Philippines.

Enoch 32: 1. To the north-east I beheld seven mountains full of choice nard and mastic and cinnamon and pepper.

2. And thence I went over the summits of all these mountains, far towards the east of the earth, and passed above the Erythraean sea and went far from it, and passed over the angel Zotîêl.

3. And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, and from afar off trees more numerous than these trees and great--fruit trees there, very great, beautiful, and glorious, and magnificent, and the tree of knowledge, whose holy fruit they eat and know great wisdom.

4. That tree is in height like the fir, and its leaves are like (those of) the Carob tree: and its fruit is like the clusters of the vine, very beautiful: and the fragrance of the tree penetrates afar.

5. Then I said: 'How beautiful is the tree, and how attractive is its look!' 

6. Then Raphael the holy angel, who was with me, answered me and said: 'This is the tree of wisdom, of which thy father old (in years) and thy aged mother, who were before thee, have eaten, and they learnt wisdom and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they were driven out of the garden.'

Believe it or not this is a description of the Philippines. The several notes on the chapter are as follows:

Verse 1: NE of Indian Ocean is the 7 Mountains of Visayas: Panay, Masbate, Samar, Leyte, Negros, Cebu and Bohol. All spices native to the Philippines.

Verse 4: ie. Lanzones Tree (right). Fruit like clusters of grapes, leaven and bark look like a Carob Tree, height of a fir, beautiful and penetrating smell. It also has at least 3 legends described as beign [sic] poison yet purified. Lason in Tagalog is poison. 

Is the Philippines really North East of the Indian Ocean? It is on Tim's flat earth map.

p. 123

But not only are the Philippines Seven mountains seen by Enoch they are also nine mountains mentioned by the Archangel Michael.

Words of the book which Michael addressed to the angels... He said: I found there divisions of fire...[and I saw there] nine mountains: two to the eas[t, and two to the west, and two to the north and two to the so]uth. I saw there the angel Gabriel...

p. 124

How is it that Michael describes the Philippines as nine mountains but Enoch as seven? Tim's annotations clear that up a bit. 

The 7 major island of Visayas, were 7 large mountains prior to the flood. They are located above the Garden of Eden.

Enoch only saw the Visayas. He did not see Mindanao or Luzon. I suppose if one is flying high above the earth Mindanao and Luzon could be easily missed.

But how can the seven or nine major islands of the Philippines be mountains? They are islands surrounded by the ocean, right? Well, no not at the time they are being described by Enoch. See, according to Tim, before the flood there was no ocean. That means all the islands were mountains.

Note to Enoch 31:1 Again, mountains in this perspective before the Flood were what we call islands now.

None of that makes any sense. Why is Enoch referring to the Erythraean Sea by name? That is totally anachronistic if Enoch the seventh from Adam wrote this book.

The Greeks themselves derived the name from an eponymous King Erythras, knowing that the waters so described were deep blue. Modern scholars sometimes attribute the name to the seasonal blooms of the red-hued Trichodesmium erythraeum in the Red Sea. Agatharchides had written of the origin of the name Erythraean Sea on the book (De Mari Erythraeo, § 5) in a story about the king Erythras:"There was a man famous for his valor and wealth, by name Erythras, a Persian by birth, son of Myozaeus..... the glory of the Island ascribed to him by the popular voice because of these his deeds, that even down to our own time they have called that sea, infinite in extent, Erythraean Sea".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythraean_Sea

If one is going to read this book intelligibly then when one comes across the Erythraean Sea then one must picture to himself a very large and expansive body of water that looks like this:

This map has come up several times in my articles about the teaching of Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture that the Philippines is Chryse. Another map that Tim uses to prove the Philippines is Chryse is the 1492 world map of Martin Behaim. This map makes an appearance in this annotated version of Enoch.

p. 126-127

In the First World Globe commissioned by the Portuguese government and released in 1492, the mindset of the age of exploration was firm that Ophir and Tarshish, the land of Solomon’s famed gold, were located in Southeast Asia just Northeast of Borneo and Southeast of China as an archipelago we now call the Philippines. This map identifies Luzon Island, Philippines as Chryse, the Greek word for the Hebrew Ophir and Mindanao as Argyre, the Greek word for the Hebrew Tarshish. The British were behind then and remain behind as they make claims only by ignoring this firm history and the Bible as well as Pomponius Mela(43 AD), The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea(70 AD), Dionysius the Tourist(124 AD), ete. which have mapped Chryse(Ophir) South of the Tropic of Cancer in the Philippines all along. Magellan knew this and recorded it.

Columbus believed and noted in journals that this was his destination of Ophir and Tarshish, not America, this same year really using the same data of the most current Portuguese exploration which this mapping identifies. His research also concluded that these same islands housed the Garden of Eden and Arsareth, the land of the Lost Tribes of Northern Israel from 2 Esdras 13. Italian Jewish Scholar, Ferrisol, of the same era, records the very same in specifically identifying the Philippines as the location of the Lost Tribes who migrated according to 2 Esdras. This was soon buried by the British who began paying propagandists in at least 1625 such as Samuel Purchas. Their supposed cases all ignore the existence of the Philippines which is the only land that could even qualify as Ophir, Tarshish, the Garden of Eden and Arsareth. Enoch agrees. See The Search for King Solomon’s Treasure for details. www.Ophirlnstitute.com

This is all the same fraudulent history I have rebutted elsewhere. See this article for a refutation of Chryse being the Greek word for Ophir, this article for a discussion of what Arsareth means and a refutation of Tim's assertions about Abraham Farrisol, and this article for a thorough refutation of Tim's interpretation of the Behaim map and other maps. The only thing new here is the bolded section. This map was not commissioned by the Portuguese government. It was a project conceived by Martin Behaim and financed by the City of Nuremberg.

In 1490, Behaim visited the city of his fathers to settle a will case, and he stayed in Nuremberg for 3 years. He managed to convince leading members of the city council to finance the manufacturing of the famous globe of the Earth under his direction. The decisive reasons still are unknown, but many inscriptions on the globe indicate an economic motivation. Whereas the final financial account of 1494 Indicates clearly which craftsmen were involved in its making, the Behaim globe must be regarded as a joint achievement of the Nuremberg humanist circle, It is an early masterpiece of many kinds of scientific and technological achievements, establishing the intellectual and economic leadership of Nuremberg in late medieval Germany.

Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers,  p. 108

It's a small mistake but it just goes to show that Tim took no care to research this subject which he has been covering for the past two years. There are many of these little mistakes in his videos and books and they all add up to the conclusion that Tim is a poor researcher. He simply cannot get his facts right. 

Enoch only lived on the earth for 365 years. That is a rather interesting number which has one year  of his life representing one day of the year, there being 365 days in the year. Strangely enough the Book of Enoch posits a 364-day year. Tim goes off wildly making calculations to figure out the proper calendar which is based on the movement of the sun alone.

The sun is propelled by the wind. pg 184

The 6 portals set the track of the sun from East to West. This is why some portions of the Earth have opposite summers and winters and this is the only logical explanation. Making the earth tilt and rotate does not.  pg. 184

The sun and moon are equal in size. pg. 187. 

That the sun and moon are the same size is actually what Enoch 72:37 says.

On a cloudy day, one can observe the sun's peering through the clouds. If we were to follow the angle of those tays, they would reveal the position of the sun which must be far, far closer than 93 million miles (150 million km) away which Scientism claims yet never proves. We must require them to prove thier positions rather than espouse their religious occult doctrines of sun worship. Also, notice the hotspots which occur even when it is not cloudy. This seems impossible under the supposed academic position which appears poorly thought through.  pg. 186

That note is so full of stupidity it is painful. How can anyone be that dumb. The distance of the sun has been proven again and again. Even the Greeks knew the sun was very far away from the earth. Tim's map of the movement of the sun over the course of the year looks like this:

The sun moves in and out of those portals in expanding and shrinking concentric circles as the year progresses.

And he really thinks this better explains the seasons than the rotation and tilt of the earth!?

Back to Enoch. At the end of those 365 years we are told in Genesis that Enoch was taken:

Genesis 5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Now, the common interpretation is that Enoch was taken to Heaven. After all the text does say all his days were 365 years. That would mean that he has no more days or years left to live out on the earth.  But  according to Tim Enoch was taken to the Garden of Eden and remains there to this day. 

p. 128

It is not made clear in this annotated version of Enoch exactly what it means that the Garden of Eden is under the Philippines. But elsewhere Tim has made it clear that the Garden of Eden is underneath the Sulu Sea.

34:36 So, there you go. The Garden of Eden is just below the Philippines under the Sulu Sea.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-god-culture-daniel-was-never-in.html 

The Garden of Eden ended up buried beneath the floor of the Sulu Sea during the flood. The great fountains of the deep exploded forming the oceans and burying Atlantis, Lemuria, and the Garden of Eden in mud. But the Garden of Eden was enclosed and protected and it remains to this day with Enoch as its lone inhabitant. 

This is a very important doctrine for Tim. You see, the Garden of Eden is inside the earth and it houses not only Enoch but the Holy of Holies, God's physical presence on the earth. Also inside the earth are the chambers for the dead.

Enoch 22 tells all about the chambers for the dead. There are four of them. One for the righteous, one for the unrighteous, one for martyrs, and one for a group of sinners from which they shall never escape. The common notion amongst Christians is that when one dies one goes to be in the presence of the Lord which is in Heaven. Tim says that is wrong. We actually go to one of the chambers and the presence of the Lord is his Holy of Holies which is in the Garden of Eden which is underneath the Philippines. Thus the chamber for the righteous is next to the Philippines.

p. 107

The Garden Of Eden is Yahuah’s Holy of Holies on Earth (Jub 8:19) thus, these chambers are in His presence just as Paul says they are (2Cor 5). The spirits of the dead are with Him but not in Heaven nor Hell. That modern church doctrine originates in the Egyptian Book of the Dead NOT the Bible. Watch “Where Do We Go When We Die?” (YouTube, Rumble, Utreon, Odyssey: The God Culture).

It is quite interesting that Tim has nothing to say about that fourth chamber. 

So, when you die expect for your soul to fall asleep in one of those chambers. If you are a Christian you will fall asleep in a large chamber which is somewhere near the Philippines. Thus you will be in the presence of God on the earth except you will not know it because you will be asleep and unconscious. Kind of like how I am in the presence of Timothy Jay Schwab and his wife Anna because we both live in the Philippines even though we are hundreds of miles apart. I have dismantled this stupid doctrine in an article which can be read here.

The very idea that the Philippines plays any role in the ancient Jewish book of Enoch is patently ridiculous. But that is the message of Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture. He is the apostle to Philippines.

As I noted at the beginning this book is chock full of stuff. I want to end by posting what is probably my favorite of Timothy Jay Schwab's notes on 1 Enoch. That would be his note to Chapter 34.

Enoch 34 1. And from thence I went towards the north to the ends of the earth, and there I saw a great and glorious device at the ends of the whole earth. 

2. And here I saw three portals of heaven open in the heaven: through each of them proceed north winds: when they blow there is cold, hail, frost, snow, dew, and rain. 

3. And out of one portal they blow for good: but when they blow through the other two portals, it is with violence and affliction on the earth, and they blow with violence.

The note to this chapter reads as follows:

This is Antarctica and though Gen 2:5 identifies a mist that comes up form the Earth to water the surface, this is the edge which has likely been kept in similar fashion all along including snow, ice and rain. Rain is Britain is not coming from these portals. We have been unable to acquire a plane ticket to Antarctica to verify this but modern science has failed in producing reliable data.

This section is accompanied by the following flat earth map.

p. 132-133

That is ridiculous. That is not what the earth looks like at all in anyway shape or form. Antarctica is a real continent and not an icewall. Likewise Tim's comment that he has been unable to acquire a plane to ticket to Antarctica to verify this is pure comedy gold. Has he really been trying to charter a plane to find the portals over Antarctica? No, he has not. Chartering a plane to Antarctica is incredibly expensive. If he actually did fly to Antarctica he would have to completely reject all the flat earth nonsense in this book because such a flight would prove this cosmology wrong beyond all doubt.

The God Culture: The First Book of Enoch: The Oldest Book In History Review, Part 1: Introduction

Timothy Jay Schwab of the God Culture has finally published one of his most anticipated books, The First Book of Enoch. Published on March 1, 2022 this book is one that Tim has been promising his audience for the past year. The comment section is full of viewers asking for such a commentary. Let's take a look at this book. 

The First Book of Enoch: The Oldest Book In History

Just like his previous edition of Jubilees this book is not an original translation but an amended translation from R. H. Charles. That means Tim has defaced the text by inserting Yahuah every time God or Lord appears. In this review I shall not consider the annotated text of Enoch itself but only Tim's introduction. As I have shown in past reviews of Tim's books and videos he is extremely ignorant, ill-informed, and uneducated about these texts. He attributes things to them that are simply not true such as 2 Esdras being found among the scrolls at Qumran and Jubilees being in use in the Church until the 14th century. 

Foreward

In this section Tim lays bare his methodology in assessing this work. Enoch was written by Enoch because Jubilees says so and Jubilees is scripture. Jubilees was also written by Moses thus Moses gives witness to Enoch. Of course Jubilees does not agree with two books Moses did write, Genesis and Exodus, by adding all kinds of superfluous material which proves Moses did not write Jubilees. But I have written about that elsewhere showing how Tim's analysis of Jubilees is shallow and dishonest.

Pages 11-12 are a long harangue against scholars. 

 How inept a scholar would have to be to think in such a ridiculous manner of scoffing.   

p. 11

Once again the scholars who have spent their entire careers studying the Dead Sea Scrolls and the community are:

...not honest men seeking the truth, they are liars not Bible scholars. 

p. 12

It's a wonder how Tim can say they are not Bible scholars when the Bible is the book they study. One may not like their conclusions but no matter how one slices it even a man like Bart Ehrman is a Bible scholar. Tim goes on to claim that Enoch's intended audience is we who are living in the last days.

Enoch composed this masterwork before the Flood to an audience he says is the End Times remnant. That is us today. He wrote this so in the Last Days especially, we would have this knowledge restored in the midst of a strong delusion in which we were warned and it has been in place for centuries. We are bombarded with a culture who hates Yahuah and will march against Yahusha in the end including many in the church. They will unite for that singular purpose, not in Him, and this has been growing for thousands of years. This is why we are called the Remnant and there are not over one billion believers on the Earth today but very few in number proportionately as predicted by Messiah and the Prophets including Enoch. The way of Yahuah is foreign to this world including scholarship and the church. They generally do not know the Elohim of the Bible, His Son nor His Word. This book will expose this many times. 

p. 12

Finally Tim says he will be creating maps from the ancient perspective of Enoch.

In this major work, we will not ignore Enoch's very obvious cosmology of the Earth including in most maps used, but we will embrace the ancient perspective in the shape of the Earth. Those who reject that will never understand this ancient text nor the Bible.

p. 14

That means the flat earth perspective. Thus Timothy Jay Schwab's rendering of Enoch's journey around the world looks like this:

p. 134-135

The Introduction begins on page 15 with a reprint of Tim's "Who lived in Qumran" section which also appears in Jubilees and 2 Esdras. There is no need to go over any of that. I have shown elsewhere how wrong Tim is about the Qumran community. What concerns us next is the "Torah Test" which begins on page 35.

This test is the same one Tim applied to Jubilees and 2 Esdras. There are four criteria which must be met.

1. Prophetic Authorship

Tim's argument for the author of Enoch being Enoch is the same as his argument for the Mosaic authorship of Jubilees. Namely, the text says so therefore it is true.

The First Book of Enoch ascribes its authorship to the Prophet Enoch, the seventh from Adam many times, even written in the first person, and documented before and up to the Flood. This is affirmed by Noah in his writing in which we have fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Moses in the Book of Jubilees and by Jude which we will cover. 

We will cover the Book of Jubilees written by Moses as well as Jude both ascribe Enoch as the author of this First Book of Enoch. They not only identify him as author but quote it. We can find this throughout history in a historicity that is indisputable. 

 p. 36

In between those passages there is long harangue against R.H. Charles and James Vanderkamp (it's actually spelled Vanderkam) for suggesting there might be multiple authors. Tim launches into an emotional argument saying they are defaming the Temple Priests who kept the true canon at Qumran. What he does not do is give an argument that Enoch was written before the flood by Enoch. He simply states it as a fact based on the authority of Enoch, Moses, Noah, and Jude. This depends on his paradigm that Jubilees is scripture and I do not grant him that. He has not shown Jubilees to be scripture at all though he thinks he has. In fact he has actually lied about its usage in the early church. The issue of Jude is a different matter. He then says he will discuss this later. Why not do it now in this section? This brief section is totally worthless.

2. Witness of the Spirit: The Historical Process, Quoted as Doctrine in Scripture

This is a really long section broken in to several smaller sections. Here Tim will show that Enoch has been in use since before the flood.

Before the Flood

This section relies on Jubilees being scripture. Jubilees says Enoch wrote before the flood and that it was by reading his parables that Noah learned of the coming flood approximately 200 years before it came.

However, Noah first learned of the Flood from reading Enoch’s book according to Noah.

The 500th year of Enoch would be about 1022 A.M. and that is very appropriate as Noah, almost 300 years old at that time, would have learned about the coming Flood that year not long after Adam died in 930 A.M. as a new era had begun. This is before Noah’s 3 sons are born from 1207-1212 A.M. in time to prepare and by that point, Noah is fully aware of the task at hand. Their ages would also fit the time in which they would be able to assist in building the ark. He builds the ark by 1307 A.M. and the Flood began 1308 A.M.

Just by reading 8 chapters later, Noah affirms he learned of the coming Flood in the First Book of Enoch specifically from the Book of Parables and later that day Michael spoke to him as well.

p. 38-39

Tim's proof that Enoch was in use before the flood is because the Book of Enoch says so! That is fallacious circular reasoning. The story of Noah in Enoch does not line up with the story in Genesis at all. In Genesis 6 we are told that God informed Noah of the coming flood when he was more than 500 years old. 

Not until verses 13 and 14 does God speak to Noah about the Ark and coming Flood. Then in verses 17 and 18, God said, “and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you” (Genesis 6:18). Notice that Noah had sons who already had wives. Noah didn’t have his first son of record until he was 500 years old, and the Flood came 100 years later (Genesis 7:6). Allowing 25–30 years for the sons to grow up and get married, we’re left with perhaps 70 years to build the Ark. 

https://arkencounter.com/blog/2011/11/18/how-long-for-noah-to-build-the-ark/

In Genesis God tells Noah to build an ark but in Enoch God tells Noah angels are building the ark.

Enoch 67:2-3 And now the angels are making a wooden (building), and when they have completed that task I will place My hand upon it and preserve it, and there shall come forth from it the seed of life, and a change shall set in so that the earth will not remain without inhabitant.

Tim's commentary on this passage contradicts its plain words.

Noah had the assistance of the angels. Perhaps they built the frame but we know Noah and his sons built the ark as well.

p. 170

Does Tim actually believe what Enoch even says? 

After the Flood; Time of Abraham

These two sections rely on the testimony of Jubilees.

Time of Moses

In this section Tim claims Deuteronomy 33:2 is a quotation of Enoch 1:3-4. However, Deuteronomy is talking about the giving of the law while Enoch is declaring the judgment of God on the earth. The passages are different and do not even remotely concern the same subject.

He then compares Genesis 6:1-2 with Enoch 6:1-2.

Genesis 6:1-2 

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw: the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

1 Enoch 6:1-2

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters, And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’

This passages are indeed very similar. It is likely that whoever wrote Enoch was quoting from Genesis. Tim has it all backwards. He certainly has not offered any proof that Enoch wrote Enoch.

Time of Moses' Jubilees

This section shows all the times the author of Jubilees cites Enoch. Because Tim claims Jubilees was written by Moses this shows that Enoch is both scripture and was written by Enoch. Again it is more circular reasoning requiring a belief that Jubilees is scripture. It is not scripture and contradicts both the Old and New Testaments therefore Jubilees is not a reliable witness.

Prophet Isaiah

Here Tim claims Isaiah 66:1 is quoting Enoch 84:2 when he writes, "The heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool." But given the late date of Enoch it is most certainly the other way around. The author of Enoch was citing Isaiah. Again Tim has not offered any real proof that Enoch the seventh from Adam wrote his titular book. 

The next sections include:

Prophets Daniel and Ezekiel

Prophet Ezra's Book of 2nd Esdras

Dead Sea Scrolls

These sections all serve to prove that these prophets and the Dead Sea community cited Enoch as scripture. For the Dead Sea scrolls that is a no-brainer. As for 2nd Esdras that is likely since that book was written after the fall of Jerusalem and Enoch had not yet been lost. As for Daniel and Ezekiel it could be that the author of Enoch cited from them. 

Tim next relates a story about a supposedly lost complete Aramaic translation of 1 Enoch. Allegedly it was sold to a collector but a microfilm exists somewhere. Tim claims if this is true it is nefarious and proof that the book is being willingly suppressed.

We are told in the Qumran Scrolls only fragments of the First Book of Enoch were found. In fact, the only surviving complete copy was found in Ethiopia. Any scholar who has an issue with Yahuah preserving this text in the Ge’ez language is not following the Bible which never says Yahuah will preserve specifically in the original Hebrew language. That is just not there nor do they apply that in modern Canon texts necessarily so it is inconsistent and not a true measure. They make it up adding to the Word and apply it as a litmus test to discount obvious scripture because they do not wish to accept it. They ignore an awful lot and it sets a paradigm of stupid.

However, in the case of the First Book of Enoch, what appears a complete manuscript in Aramaic is reported to have been found in Qumran by the Chief Editor even. It was sold off to a private collector in secret with no information available to the public. Some even attempt to deny this yet this was the Chief Editor not some busy body spreading rumors. If true, this appears nefarious. Former Chief Editor of the Dead Sea Scrolls, John Strugnell, granted two interviews to Biblical Archaeology Review where he claimed he witnessed a complete copy of the Book of Enoch from Cave 11. In a follow up interview, he also claimed he saw it on microfilm as well. This has not been made available to the public. Why?

If in fact, this book was recorded on microfilm, that is wonderful except where is it? Why is this not public? If a private collector has it, who is that and more so, where is the information? This is not some antique or rare book, it is scripture and if true, how dare anyone allow that to be stolen away from the public eye. The good news is we have enough which survives to understand the First Book of Enoch in the Ethiopic Ge’ez supported by the other, though incomplete, Qumran scrolls we have. Whether one dates these fragments to 300-150 B.C. is of no consequence as they are copies and such dating is not actually based on science and ignores the scribal tradition no scholar would apply in discussing Genesis thus a false paradigm.

p. 50-51

What does it matter if there is an Aramaic text of Enoch hiding away in a collector's cabinet when Tim says the book was preserved in Ge'ez? Does he think there might be some important textual variations that would shine light on the Ethiopic? If so he is acting like one of those Bible scholars he so continually maligns. Well, it turns out he does think that an Aramaic copy found at the in the caves of Qumran would show proof that the parables of Enoch, that would be chapters 37-71, are genuine.

The Supposed "Missing Section" of First Enoch

Those chapters were not found at Qumran and are also absent from the Greek translation. That means they were added at a later date. Tim says that kind of thinking is that of an "intellectual toddler." His solution is that the Book of Parables was known at Qumran because they are referenced in Jubilees and 2 Esdras and both of those books were found at Qumran.

The supposed missing Second Section titled the Parables of Enoch are comprised of Chapters 37-71. They are not missing in the first century B.C. as the Parables of Enoch from the Second Section are quoted and preserved in date by 2nd Esdras 6 times even. 2nd Esdras is also quoted in the Dead Sea Scrolls in about 100 B.C. thus the connection is not difficult to assess. These are not scholars but scoffers bellowing ridicule in ignorance. In 2nd Esdras 6:49-32, the Prophet Ezra takes First Enoch 60:7-9 and expands on it even. That is a Parable in First Enoch from the supposed missing section about Leviathan and Behemoth being quoted in 100 B.C, or so at the very latest. Also, 2nd Esdras 7:32-33 cites | Enoch 51:1 and 3, 2 Esdras 7:37 quotes 1 Enoch 62:1 and 60:6, and 2nd Esdras 7:36 derives from 1 Enoch 48:9-10 and 27:3 even according to R.H. Charles/introduction) in 1912. There has never been a point to this criticism yet many believe they should ignore these 40 plus Chapters of scripture documented in use in the first century B.C. because illiterate scoffers are only capable of textual criticism or scoffing without follow through in research. This is called gross negligence and any scholar who has maintained this position is no scholar and hates Yahusha.

Finally, when the Book of Jubilees 7:38 also affirms Noah reading from the First Book of Enoch affirming these two fragments; 7:39 affirms Noah keeping the Law of Enoch from this same writing; 10:17 confirms Enoch’s office of Prophet and Scribe including Enoch’s written testimony of the ages all the way to the Day of Judgment; and 21:10-11 documents where even Abraham read the First Book of Enoch as did his fathers which would include Noah and Enoch who tell us that included the Book of Parables precisely even, then, there is no point here. There is no missing section from First Enoch period.

p. 52-53

2 Esdras does not date before 70 AD and was never found at Qumran. That Tim continues to insist that it was reveals how adamant he remains in his ignorance. His proof from Jubilees is likewise inadequate. Yes, Jubilees says Noah read from the writings of Enoch but Jubilees does not cite from the Parable section. That is a very long section of 34 chapters. For instance Jubilees makes no reference to Noah learning of the flood 200 years before the event from reading Enoch. Nor does Jubilees tells us that angels built the ark as Enoch 67:2-3 says. Why would that be if Jubilees is supposed to be a witness to 1 Enoch? 

Before moving on the most controversial section of these parables is 56:5.

And in those days the angels shall return And hurl themselves to the east upon the Parthians and Medes:

It is the mention of the Parthians and Medes by name that has caused many to date this section much later than the rest of Enoch. Incidentally Tim has no notes on this verse in his commentary.

pg. 156

Tim's analysis of the dating of the Book of Parables is shallow and it seems he has not grasped what the issues are.

The New Testament

Everything in these next three sections concerns the testimony of the Church and because Timothy considers the Church to be the Synagogue of Satan it should really be trashed. Why does he care about the testimony of the Synagogue of Satan? He cannot even appeal to the New Testament because the Church chose which books and which texts of those books to accept. With his criteria for what makes scripture, that a book must have been found at Qumran because those schismatics kept the true canon, Timothy Jay Schwab has no epistemic right to the New Testament. 

This is a very lengthy section where Tim shows every place in the New Testament where Enoch was quoted. It is rather common knowledge that Jude cites Enoch by name. He is the only New Testament author to do so. That is not to say that other authors do not cite Enoch but it is to say they never refer to him directly by name.

This is a direct quote from the written First Book of Enoch. The notion that Jude was a sucker who fell for a fraud created 200 years earlier is stupidity not to mention Messiah and the rest of the Apostles who quote First Enoch. He is quoting the ancient scroll of Enoch from the first chapter of Enoch even pretty closely and credits it as such. Jude knew the Temple Priests at Qumran/Bethabara did not manufacture scripture under false pretenses and he uses this passage and others as scripture. Why do we allow inept modern scholars to accuse Jude of being a fool and the true Levite Temple Priests as being frauds? They were not, Pharisees are. This is not a quote from any other book but the First Book of Enoch period and certainly not the opposite.

p. 55

He then goes through a host of scriptures, citing only the English translations, to show us that the New Testament is imbued with the thought of 1 Enoch. Sadly, his puerile invective against scholars and any thing he finds disagreeable ruins what is otherwise a very interesting section of his introduction.

Quoted by "Early Church Fathers"

This entire list is obviously taken from R.H. Charles' footnotes and has not been translated or made intelligible in any way.

p. 68

If Tim cared about his readers at all he would have cited the author and the work and not just leave it looking like that. Take a look at Irenaeus. What work is being cited and which passages are being referred to? I know it's Against Heresies but which books and sections? There is no way Tim has read any of these Early Church Fathers. It would be interesting to actually take a look at a few of these references but Tim simply posts this list and moves on. After this list he writes these two odd paragraphs.

When one reviews the objections of so-called “early church fathers” of the false church, it is no surprise they did not like First Enoch especially when the tide turned to change the Bible and they went along. These were a cursed lot as you do not change what the true Temple Priests already kept as Bible Canon. They do not like Yahuah and did not actually serve Him which is obvious in their church foundation. Certainly, one can read of Origen’s (200 A.D.) or Augustine’s (400 A.D.) hatred of the book. They did not prefer the truth but the lies of their false church who demonstrated a preference for occult roots instead which they would replace. Enoch exposes them. A false church who abandoned the practice of the Apostles and persecuted the true ekklesias in Turkey is the wrong measure to assess what is inspired scripture. They are not even an inspired church nor entire system. They are the men (Jude 1:4) warned crept in unawares before launching into several quotes from the First Book of Enoch.

Thus, it is useless to then follow this false church to see what it did or did not change in scripture. The point is they dared to change it and never had authority. They are illegitimate and their changes void. Even with that said, they still continued to use First Enoch until at least 380 A.D. with latter references still proving they knew the Temple practice of keeping Enoch as scripture which they abandon not Messiah nor any Apostle. They are caught and exposed as they are guilty of continuing the Pharisee Bible over the Temple Priests further proving they are not the ekklesia of Messiah. They don’t know Him, especially not His ways and they do not represent Him thus they do not get an opinion.

p. 69-70

First of all Augustine did not hate the Book of Enoch. He thought it was a genuine production of the Biblical patriarch.

We cannot deny that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, left some divine writings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical epistle. But it is not without reason that these writings have no place in that canon of Scripture which was preserved in the temple of the Hebrew people by the diligence of successive priests; for their antiquity brought them under suspicion, and it was impossible to ascertain whether these were his genuine writings, and they were not brought forward as genuine by the persons who were found to have carefully preserved the canonical books by a successive transmission.

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm

Second of all, why bother to cite the Early Church as a witness if it is useless because they are a false and illegitimate church? Tim's method really makes no sense.

Simply because a book was cited in the Old or New Testament does not make it scripture. If that is the measure of canonicity then what shall we do with all the other books NOT cited at all but which form the canon?

The third is that citations in the New Testament cannot serve as a definitive yardstick for canonicity, since it contains none from certain books whose canonicity was disputed even among the Jews (Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs), two from the book of Wisdom (2, 13 in Matthew 27, 43 and 7, 26 in Hebrews 1, 3), and an explicit citation from the indisputably apocryphal Book of Enoch. (Jude, 14-15)

https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2017/01/the-apocrypha-and-liturgy.html

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewhado Church

In this section Tim says the Ethiopian eunuch Philip converted in Acts 8 brought back the traditions of the New Testament church. This includes the use of 1 Enoch as scripture.

Remember, in Acts 8:25-40, essentially the Treasurer of the nation of Ethiopia met Philip. He was already reading Isaiah without understanding it. Philip explained to this man the story of Messiah and the man accepted Yahusha that day. He would return to his country knowing the traditions at least in part of the ekklesia of Messiah. It is there we find the continuation of the First Book of Enoch as Bible Canon.

Somehow, and no one truly documents how, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church included the First Book of Enoch and The Book of Jubilees in it’s Bible Canon around 300 A.D. until today. One must wonder if the true origin of this decision might really be that Treasurer that day who learned some from Philip and likely many others before leaving to return to his country with a message in which he would have amassed a following. 

p. 70-71

How would the Ethiopian eunuch know any of the traditions of the church when his meeting with Philip was a one-off while he was on his way home? Let's not forget that the Ethiopian Church was founded in the 4th century.

Though no written history truly appears to identify this firmly, we believe they continued that tradition especially regarding First Enoch and Jubilees directly from the Apostles and exiled Temple Priests not from any other church and certainly not from Pharisees who practice differently. Around 300 A.D., the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church was established and chose to continue these two books as Bible Canon which does not match any other Bible Canons really except that of the Apostles and Temple Priests in regards to these two books. We are not addressing their entire Canon. We know this because we find the Apostles quoting Jubilees and Enoch as inspired scripture many times. This continues in their Bible to this day.

p. 71

Let's also not forget that the Ethiopian Church considers tradition to also be the Word of God.

The Holy Scriptures are one of the two great foundations of the faith and here is what our church holds and teaches concerning it. The word of God is not contained in the Bible alone, it is to be found in tradition as well. The Sacred Scriptures are the written word of God who is the author of the Old and New Testaments containing nothing but perfect truth in faith and morals. But God’s word is not contained only in them, there is an unwritten word of God also, which we call apostolic tradition. We receive the one and other with equal veneration.

http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/canonical/books.html

This and a host of other doctrines such as the Trinity puts the Ethiopian church firmly in the Synagogue of Satan according to Tim. So, why does he even bother with their witness? He is not consistent at all.

3. Acceptance

This, of course, means that the Church has accepted the book. But has the Church accepted 1 Enoch as scripture? The answer is an unequivocal no. Contrary to what Tim claimed above Origen did not "hate" the book of Enoch. But he is a witness that the book was not accepted in the Church as divine.

...for he does not appear to have read the passages in question, nor to have been aware that the books which bear the name Enoch do not at all circulate in the Churches as divine...

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04165.htm

This is the premier Bible textual scholar before Jerome and a man who's teachings influenced many telling us that Enoch was not considered scripture in the Church in his day. That is a very important testimony which should not be discounted.

While Enoch is an important book for understanding 2nd Temple Judaism as well the apocalyptic tradition in much of the early Church the fact is the Church rejected it. Why? According to Tim the answer, which he never proves and is not provable, is that the book was willingly suppressed by those in power because they wished to conceal the truths it contains. 

The fact is we must listen to what Jesus says:

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

We cannot deny that the Church has been led all this time by the guiding of the Holy Spirit. This includes deciding the contents of the canon. Paul tells us the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. If we deny that then we have no foundation to believe anything. We are then left all alone as atomistic individuals who must determine what is and what is not truth. But God has given us the Church, His body here on earth. God speaks and acts through her alone.

Tim's insistence that we need Enoch to properly understand the Bible and the times we live in is completely faithless and atheistic. Such a stance is to reject that God has preserved his word through the Church for the past 2,000 years.

4. In Agreement with the whole of Scripture

Enoch is a fantastical book. There are a lot of weird things happening in there. From Angels teaching men how to build civilization to mountains which are ever burning with fire or made of gemstones to Enoch being taken into heaven and seeing the literal edge of the earth. Yes, thats right. Enoch teaches a flat earth.

As demonstrated in Part 2 of this Torah Test, the First Book of Enoch agrees with the whole tone and tenor of the Old and New Testaments serving as the foundational basis in several parts we have identified. In this publishing, we will address the recent movement of those who believe in a Flat Earth as Enoch most certainly did write from such perspective but anyone saying the rest of scripture is not, is clueless and cannot read. We have seen several such dunderhead responses claiming that a circle is sphere or ball when very clearly Bible writers knew the difference and when they use circle they mean a 2-dimensional shape not a ball. Those scholars are simply not honest.

p. 72

There you have it. Timothy Jay Schwab is a flat-earther 100%. Here is another of the many flat earth maps to be found in this book.

p. 128

The Philippines is northeast of the Indian Ocean! 

For Tim agreement with the whole of scripture means that Enoch agrees in tone and tenor with the Old and New Testaments. Don't let something like Noah being told about the flood 200 years before Genesis has it or the angels building the ark put you off. That's just small potatoes to Tim. "Even the Gospels have minor details to iron out," he says.

That is the whole of the introduction. It's pretty bad. There are a lot of bad arguments and straight up lies in what Tim has to say about Enoch. That Enoch says Enoch wrote the book is no proof he did. Likewise his appeals to Jubilees fall short because Jubilees is not an ancient book. It's substantial disagreement with Genesis in many places including the timeline is proof positive that Moses is not its author thus it is not a reliable witness. 

Tim's appeal to the early church despite him saying a few paragraphs later that their testimony does not matter should cancel out any appeals to the Church. Likewise his appeal to the New Testament for the canonicity of Enoch is also wrongheaded because it is the Church which compiled those books. Tim has no New Testament. His only canon, as he admits, is what is found at Qumran and he has no sound epistemic basis for that claim either. 

What was discovered in and around Qumran cannot be affirmed to be a complete library of what was actually stored there, for the residents made no list of what they stored, and we do not know if one day another cave will be discovered with many more ancient manuscripts. Therefore, a certain amount of caution is necessary before making strong statements about the contents of the Qumran library. And because of this uncertainty, it is wise to soften conclusions about what was not found there.

Lee Martin McDonald, The Biblical Canon, pg. 131

The next part of this review will take a look at Tim's apparatus for Enoch. There are colorful maps and charts aplenty as well as many notes. Since this is a blog about the Philippines I will especially examine the references to this nation in Tim's book. Believe it or not the Philippines plays a huge role in 1 Enoch.